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Day 1 Sprints

This was a special race to take part in.  My husband was born in South Korea and hadn’t returned since he came to Canada over 20 years ago.  We were long overdue for a trip to Korea, a honeymoon since we had gotten married last summer and lucky for me this race was happening while we were there!

The event was very well organized, it was a festival complete with an opening ceremony, numerous tents lining the beach as well as fun activities for both spectators and athletes.

The opening ceremony had all the pro athletes come in with their country’s flags which were all provided to us with string to tie them to our paddles, smart.  There was a traditional Korean farmer’s dance/drumming performance that was put on to wish everyone luck at the event.  It is traditionally done to wish farmers a good harvest.  A very talented group of University Taekwondo athletes performed their most daring skills complete with standing on one another’s shoulders while another runs up their bodies to kick a target over 10 feet in the air.  

The sprint technical race was 300m on an “M” shaped course with 3 buoys, beach start and beach finish.  We had a heat, repechage and three finals for the women.  I was the only rookie and came 5th overall in the pro.  There were 5 women competing, two South Koreans, an Australian, an Argentinian and myself.  I was really disappointed that we did not have more competitors in the women’s category and was really glad to have entered myself to up the numbers.  

It was a long struggle to find an Infinity board that I could ride in South Korea.  I managed to get my hands on a Candice Appleby low volume board which was perfect for me.  This was only my second time racing on the ocean and it was quite wavy.  Watching the men’s races was so exciting because so many of the competitors were falling in and there were many upsets in the results.  

In the first heat we launched into the shorebreak which was a wave between 1-2ft and quite powerful.  All summer I’ve been practicing a staggered stance going into breaking waves and I’m proud to say that I didn’t get knocked off my board during the sprints.  I feel very encouraged to see marked improvement from practicing my SUP skills and it drives me to continue.  

I still need more practice paddling in wavy conditions because my stroke rate ends up slowing right down likely because of balance issues.  My only regret in my sprints was that I didn’t feel like I was sprinting.  The highlight was my smooth pivot turns at the buoys.  

My second sprint race was very exciting, I was in qualifying position at one point in the race even after falling in at the first buoy until the next buoy flipped over due to the wind, shifting my path over 1 metre forcing me to go very wide around it.  With the wind and waves my wide turn was pushed even wider and it allowed the Australian behind me to overtake me with a sharper turn.  It was disappointing that my line toward the buoy which was perfect prior to the buoy shifting resulted in me losing way too much time and missing out on qualifying for the final.  

Regardless of how I finished in the sprints I was really proud to have tackled conditions that I’m not used to and raced hard with aggressive pivot turns using a switchback stance. 

The fact that the whole event was televised was absolutely terrifying.  Knowing that every success and failure was broadcasted for the world to see was a thought I had when I was trying to fall asleep the night before the race.  I have a problem that I worry too much what others think, but every single time I’m in the middle of a race I always think to myself, “I freaking love this, I’m working so hard I don’t care about the result, I only care that I’m out here giving it my all and enjoying every moment and all the pain that it comes with!”  Okay, that’s not exactly word for word because I find it really hard to remember my races, I tend to blank out.  In fact, when I crossed the line in my final sprint, I felt my jersey was wet, looked at my husband and asked him “Did I fall in?”  He confirmed that I had.  It’s amazing that we can push our bodies and our minds so hard that it alters our mental state.  

Day 2 Long Distance Race

The long distance race was scheduled for 9am for the men, 11am for the women.  Unfortunately, the weather had other plans for us.  In South Korea there is a rule that if the wind is 15 knots or higher, stand up paddleboarding or stand up paddle surfing are not permitted.  This resulted in an over 6 hour delay to the race start time and the cancellation of the amateur and children’s races.  Their races ended up being postponed to the next day.  Now we had the men racing shortly after 3pm (they didn’t end up starting until 3:45pm) and the women starting after 5pm.  The course was modified to make it more enjoyable for competitors and spectators alike.  It involved 5 laps of 2km each, with 3 flags on the beach to dismount, run around and launch back out in the surf, it was very zigzaggy.

After the men started I realized it took some of the men well over 20 minutes to complete one lap which was quite slow.  The women watched the men and we could tell they were getting very tired and losing strength running around the flags on the beach.  We were waiting for their race to finish because some of us were sharing boards, especially the Infinity Speed Freaks since our boards were a rarity.  

There was another hitch, the sun set at 6pm.  By 5pm the men were still not finished racing.  The race officials approached us and asked if we would race other boards, we were offered a 23” and 24.5” Starboard AllStar.  Juliette and Chloe were racing on 21.5” boards and didn’t feel comfortable racing on a board other than Infinity.  We were all proud to represent Infinity and unwilling to give that up.  The officials conceded and allowed us to wait for the top finishing men riding Infinity boards to start our race with one caveat, we could only do one lap instead of five because of nightfall.  We were all really disappointed that our race would be different from the men’s but agreed it was better than not racing at all. 

It had turned into another sprint technical race for us, only 2km and we all pushed really hard.  We fell in once at the start from the powerful waves with only Juliette making it out unscathed taking a commanding lead.  I was in 3rd place position heading toward the second and farthest buoy.  Shortly after we rounded the buoy and set off on our downwind section I was overtaken by the other competitors.  They were able to use the swell to their advantage in a way that I just couldn’t, my inexperience in the ocean was showing.  Since the sun was setting I could not make out any of the flags on the shore and panicked a little wondering where my line should be.  We were racing with neon orange shirts which were thankfully very visible, once I caught sight of Juliette I followed her line to the shore.  

At the first beach flag I noticed a couple of the women had fallen in just before the beach and thought “This is my chance!”  Aaaaaand then I fell in.  Incredibly disappointing.  I was in chest deep water wading through to get to the shore, ran around the flag and launched back out successfully but boy was I exhausted.  When you do beach runs it feels like an opportunity to make up time but once you jump back on the board you feel winded and disoriented, it’s a real challenge that makes races that incorporate beach portages very interesting.  

After the last flag I struggled to get back on the board, I was starting to feel the fatigue set in and held on as best as I could.  At the finish I fell in a couple more times because I was tired and I had caught the waves sideways which flipped my board over.  When I finally ran across the finish line I felt so happy that it was over and I’d given it my all.  I had so much fun riding the waves and paddling against them.  I felt stronger than I’d ever felt on a SUP and noticed a huge improvement over last year trying to battle waves on Lake Ontario and Lake Huron.  

I glanced at my GPS watch and realized why the race had felt so impossible to complete.  It was actually 3km, not the planned 2km.  We had SPRINTED for 3km!  It was a lactic acid nightmare and challenged us mentally.  Which also meant the men did a 15km race as opposed to 10km, no wonder their laps were so slow.  

I met so many great locals in this event and connected with fellow Infinity Speed Freaks Juliette and Itzel Delgado for the first time.  My husband and I were invited to come back and stay with some of the locals next year to train and compete which is very tempting!!!  The Korean commentator announced that competing in a high level event like this was the equivalent of training for 10 hours and I agree.  There is something about the high pressure of racing that pushes you to do things that you’ve either never done before or never realized you were capable of doing.  We enjoyed the rest of our vacation exploring winding alleyways, hiking mountains and the local cuisine.  My favourite meals were Cold Noodles and Bossam. 

Wow, that was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life.  After I completed that race I felt like nothing in my life was as stressful as this and that I could handle anything that life throws at me. And I did it on my 21.5″ Blackfish courtesy of Infinity, thank you!

I was most nervous for the beach start because I had taken April Zilg’s clinic the day before where we tried to launch into the ocean near Mason’s Inlet.  The waves were much messier being so close to Mason’s Inlet.  It was discouraging to say the least, out of everyone that was there taking the clinic or just out on their own, no one made it past the surf zone except for April.   On race day the waves were smaller and cleaner, I felt confident that I could get through the break zone.  When we lined up with our boards on the start line  I was next to my friend and fellow Infinity Speedfreak Wendy.  But I looked to my other side and saw another Speedfreak, Candice Appleby.  At first I didn’t want to start so close to her and bugged Wendy to move over a few inches.  But then I realized that at least Candice would take off at the start, not fall in like most people would, which could have been a potential hazard and leave me a nice wide open space to paddle out.

I started on my knees even though my pride wanted me to stand the entire time, but I thought it’s not worth it to get caught in the break zone and be pummeled over and over like a ragdoll zapping my much needed energy for the 22km ocean race.  This was my first time at Carolina Cup and my goal was to complete the race. 

After taking a few strokes I decided it was time to stand but my balance wasn’t the best with all the race jitters and I fell in almost as soon as I stood up.  “That’s okay, I needed to cool off” I told myself, I don’t know when my self-talk got so positive but it sure helps!  I got back onto my knees and kept going.  I had swallowed salt water…gross.   A massive wave built up right where all my competitors in front of me were.  It took out at least 6 women like pins hit by a bowling ball and I realized “Wow, I’m exactly where I needed to be, it was a good thing I fell in where I did.”

I stood up again just as another big wave came through, the woman next to me dropped on her knees and I followed to brace for impact.  It was a good plan because I got over it no problem and I was out of the surf zone.  Task 1 complete!  Another 21.7km to go!

Then it was around the buoy and a sort of downwind on the ocean to Mason’s inlet.  The waves were heading toward shore at a 45° angle which was somewhat rideable but forced a zigzag paddling line to avoid ending up near shore in the surf zone.  There were 4 of us paddling together, 3 on Infinity boards, go Team Speedfreaks!  I think almost all of us fell in at least once because the chop and swell from the ocean really made balancing exhausting.  My legs felt like noodles and I wondered how I’d have the strength to finish.  This race is really early in the year for Canadians and thus difficult to prepare for since we are frozen off the water for parts of January/February and focusing on our base training.  

When we got to the inlet it was time to surf, I went wide to avoid the break zone in the shallows where if you fell off the wave you had to paddle out against the surf in order to keep progressing.  You are not allowed to advance in the race by running on shore.   I caught a rad wave and hopped back on the board like April advised us to do rather than trying a fancy cross step.  I wiped out but I had no fear of being caught in the surf like I had felt the previous day in the washing machine.  I got right back on and rode another wave.  It was fun!  I noticed everything was really bright, I put my hand on my face then my head to feel for my sunglasses but they were gone, I never even noticed them coming off.  I also lost 2 of my gel shots that I had duct taped to the board, luckily I brought 4 for redundancy and an extra emergency one in my hydration vest.

Next it was time for the slog.  The flatwater section against currents/tide, over shallows and add some motorboat wake to the mix just for fun.  My pace was so slow I kept venturing side to side looking for faster moving water but didn’t find any advantage, it was time to put my head down and grind it out.  This is what I had trained all winter for. 

A fellow Canadian caught up to me and we worked together drafting for about 5km, it was so nice to take a break and eat some gel shots while I was riding her wash.  My heart rate settled a bit and I recovered enough to feel strong again. 

Finally, I reached the Masonborough Inlet, or the “washing machine” just needed to get through there to the final ocean stretch.  There was a LOT of sizable motorboat wake from huge craft.  I was surrounded by a few men, most of whom fell in during this section.  I steadied myself as much as I could and I made it through without falling in.  There was a breakwall to go around and some people cut the corner which I felt was dangerously close to the rocks with waves bouncing back and forth.  I later heard that the water close to the breakwall was sucking people in, which is a scary thought.   

My levator muscle pain in my right neck/shoulder started acting up, it’s a pain I’m familiar with from years of kayaking long distance and now it’s back due to the long distance SUP races.  It’s a sharp, excruciating pain that I can paddle through.  This is my pain cave and the only way to get out is to paddle through it to the finish line.  There was a Canadian woman just in front of me, who was a fierce competitor and I was gaining on her, determined to pass.  I couldn’t let this pain get the better of me and stop now.  I pushed through and rode the swells as much as I could.  Then I realized I couldn’t see where the last buoy was that we needed to go around before heading to the beach.  I scanned the horizon and finally I saw it.  The buoy was hard to find because everyone in front of me was quite a ways off course, much further left of the buoy instead of to the right of it.  I veered right and hoped taking a more direct line would be my chance to catch up.  I rounded the buoy entering the surf zone which is challenging at best when my energy levels are full, as I’m not experienced at surfing on my race board, let alone after 21km of challenging conditions.  With my pain and rapidly depleting energy I rocked and bobbed through.  I fell in when my jello legs finally turned to mush.  I was so close, less than 200m to shore.  I might have let out an expletive or two, frustrated, got up and willed the race to end.  When I got to shore I scrambled across the finish line.  My Mom was right there on the other side to give me a big hug and tell me how proud she was of me.  I had felt so nervous to disappoint my family who had traveled all this way to see me and hoped I’d at least finish the race.  I did it.  I cried tears of relief and joy that it was done.  It was the hardest thing I’d ever accomplished in my life.  I felt like I was on top of the world and nothing, no challenge in life could be bigger than this, I was invincible and could handle anything life threw at me.  Nothing at work could be more stressful than this was.  

I. Feel. Empowered. 

I came 12th in my age category and was the 4th Canadian woman to cross the finish line.

I was anxiously awaiting the return of this race ever since I heard about it last summer.  A race in January, indoors, in a hockey arena lake?  The world’s largest indoor pool! Sign me up!  What a rad venue!  When I walked into the arena where the Marlies play hockey I felt like I was finally doing a real sport with spectators.  It was a really neat experience to be paddling on the lake and have bleachers surrounding us with spectators.  During the races it meant we could hear the loud cheers and groans as people fell off their boards during tight pivot turns with 5 competitors trying to rotate around the buoy at once.

My background in flatwater kayak mostly consisted of 500m races that lasted just over 2 minutes long, these are comparable to the 800m run distance which I think is one of the toughest mentally.  It’s a sprint, then hold on as much as possible until the end, it hurts.  When I transitioned to SUP I was a little disappointed to find out that most of the local races are either long distance or ultra long distance.  I had to learn to love it and embrace the hydration vest that I have to wear every race to stay alive.  At the boat show I was stoked to finally have a sprinty SUP race with turns that my friends and family could actually see.  Usually watching a long SUP race consists of seeing the start and finish but not much in between depending on the location.  

I came 2nd in my heat, the turns were all wonderfully chaotic and I loved how it really could be anyone’s race!  I advanced straight to the final which I appreciated because the air was so dry and the pool chemicals were not doing anyone’s throat or lungs any favours.  There were 4 races for each participant, heat, semi, final and a fun relay that mixed up the men and women.  It was fun cheering on our teammates in the relay.

I think we put on quite the show for the final women’s race.  Each turn featured boards crashing into one another, boards rubbing so people couldn’t paddle on that side.  It was very eventful and a lot of fun!  I learned from the first race that I had to get to the first buoy turn first or I’d risk getting interference from other paddlers trying to turn at the same time. I paddled a choke stroke on one side for that entire first leg, switching sides to make the turn.  Then I paddled as hard as I could for the rest of the race to avoid being passed.  I was really happy with how my pivot turns went.  Before the race I was nervous as to how I would feel on a 12’6 inflatable SUP because I don’t find them as stable as hard boards because there is a little movement under my feet due to the air being displaced by my body weight.  I also hadn’t pivot turned in weeks due to my board deck freezing up this winter.  I made the mistake of trying to pivot turn once paddling outside and my foot almost slid right off the back of the board on the icy surface.  What I loved about the 12’6 is that it is so much quicker and easier for me to step back all the way to the kickpad on the end of the board.  I felt really confident in my turns and they’re ridiculously fun to do!  

In the final 2 turns of the race I almost fell right off the board a few times.  I couldn’t believe it, I was mad at myself for losing control in the race.  It wasn’t until I was talking to friends and family after the race that someone’s board had landed on the back of mine.  I had no idea.  I was stoked to have been able to keep going and paddle away without falling in.  

I ended up winning the race and I attribute that to my extensive pivot turn practice last summer and my ability to push through lactic acid pain for 3 minutes.  It REALLY hurt.  When I finished I ended up with a combination of a lactic acid cough and a really dry irritated throat from the air.  It was worth it haha!  The trophy was one of the coolest ones I’ve seen, a mini paddleboard.

Thank you Northline Sports for putting on a great event and for all the volunteers and competitors who also helped make it a smooth and fun event. 

I signed up for this downwind race having never done a downwind from Point A to Point B on a paddleboard before, I had only done it on a surfski kayak. I was stoked to get experience in “bigger” water to prepare for future races in the ocean. I practiced for the race by going out in every kind of condition. I mean, the windiest, waviest conditions possible. I mostly did paddle outs into the headwind/waves and then turning around to ride the bumps back in which is a delightful reward after a battle into a strong headwind. I felt somewhat prepared!

My new husband and I were gawking at the colourful autumn foliage the entire drive up to ile d’Orleans, it made the 11 hour trip a little easier. We stayed with the group of SUP/OC1/Surfski athletes competing in the event at a cottage that felt like a giant sleepover.

Day 1 was the Technical race. Beach start, turning right around the pier, paddling into the waves, left around a buoy, a little downwind back, left around a buoy and paddling broadside to the waves back to the beach for a sprint finish. 1200m total, this short distance was right up my alley as a seasoned sprint canoe/kayaker. There were 7 ladies competing so we did the heat and the final all together which made for a fun, competitive beach start. I always started off 2nd or 3rd and then gradually powered ahead in the headwind. I think the training in terrible conditions helped! I played it safe and didn’t pivot turn around the buoy so I didn’t fall in but in the final my SUP friend Wendy Tillet who was in 2nd place almost caught me because I got swept away from not turning sharply enough! I had to hustle and almost fell onto my board, almost completely squandering my lead. I got to the beach and picked up my board, sprinting without looking back because I knew she was close, almost breathing down my neck. I took the win for the technical and felt really proud! When Wendy crossed the line she came up to me saying “I almost had you!!!” and we had a good laugh.

Everyone at the event was so welcoming and supportive. We all cheered each other on and became instant friends. There’s always a great vibe at SUP events.

Day 2: The 12km downwind race. All autumn I had been mentally preparing myself for a 22km downwind but the conditions called for a 12km downwind against the current, with the wind and waves. It felt fast and fun but looking at my pace on the GPS it was very slow. I was grateful they didn’t call for 22km because it would have taken me almost 4 hours to complete!

We had another beach start and about 300m into the waves to a buoy in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. I knew my strength was paddling into the waves because my Infinity Blackfish board felt like it just sailed effortlessly over the waves like butter. I decided I’d use this chance to get as far ahead as possible before the other competitors caught up to me on the downwind because I knew that was their strength. This was their backyard where they practice downwinds all the time. My lead lasted a couple minutes before I started getting passed by others sailing down the river catching every bump. We were all having so much fun riding the swells you could hear “weee”s and whoops all over the place. It was a party out there! I knew downwinding was a skill I needed to work on, but a fun one and I felt like I was improving the whole time. After a few minutes I was in 4th place and felt like we had been paddling for a while, about 3-4km. I looked down at my watch and it had only been 1.8km. Another 10+km to go! I looked at the pace and it shocked me, over 11 minutes per km. I decided the only way I’d have a chance at this race is to paddle as hard as I could in between rides and hope that my fitness would give me an edge.

Racing on the St. Lawrence River was intimidating to say the least with all the ocean liners going down the river. Thankfully there was a clear set of buoys to mark their channel and we had to stay out of it, but that didn’t stop the wake from those massive ships from reaching us. I felt extremely stable on the 24.5″ Infinity Blackfish which is more board than I needed but gave me the peace of mind knowing that I was not likely to fall in. I was having the rides of my life until an ocean liner passed and gave me some nice cross directional waves which turned my downwind into a washing machine. But I paddle in a washing machine called Lake Ontario every day so this was nothing.

At 6km I caught up to another competitor as they looked to be getting very hot and tired. I, too, was roasting in my Vaikobi neoprene and I compensated by drinking extra water and pretending it was mid-summer. At 7km I noticed I was starting to gain on my friend Wendy. She had encouraged me to do the race and kicked my butt in Kincardine at the Ontario SUP Series. I fell in the water at least 12 times during that race, but have since grown better sea legs. With 5km to go I kept hammering my paddle in the water to get closer and closer. When we reached the final buoy I was about 75-100m behind Wendy and watched her take a really wide turn and get blown away, the same thing that had happened to me the the day before. Determined to catch up I went for a pivot turn to cut closer to the pier. Next to the pier instead of side chop I had tiny little 2cm waves pushing me to the shore. I sprinted like I was in a 200m race, getting closer and closer. Wendy jumped off her board onto the beach and a few strokes later I jumped off mine and sprinted to the finish. I was SO CLOSE! I ran right past the finish, ducked my head into my wooden carved participation medal given by a volunteer and jumped onto Wendy, shaking her and laughing “I ALMOST GOT YOU!” She looked so stunned from the exhaustion of the race and having to sprint to the finish. She is an amazing competitor, it was fun chasing her down.

My first SUP downwind was a success and I look forward to seeing all the now familiar faces next year and for even bigger bumps to ride!